Philadelphia freedom comes to wireless with lots of 3G and 4G choice. Philly is one of only two cities to feature all eight of our 3G/4G networks (the other is Las Vegas). All of those networks seem to crowd the airwaves a bit, as Philly isn't as fast overall as some of the other cities we tested. Verizon 4G is the fastest network in Philadelphia, with average download speeds of 9.11 Mbps. The fastest spot we tested? The Melrose Diner on Passyunk Avenue in South Philly, where we got more than 19Mbps down with Verizon.

As one of the few cities with both MetroPCS and Cricket, it's interesting to compare the two budget networks here. MetroPCS's network is faster, but Cricket's is more reliable and consistent, even for video streamingMetroPCS just had too many dropouts in our tests. MetroPCS's problems seemed to be focused on certain neighborhoods, though, with its worst streaming results in the north Philadelphia suburbs and Olney.

About the Author

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 13 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, hosts our One Cool Thing daily Web show, and writes opinions on tech and society.
Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer. Other than ... See Full Bio

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